It is customary to transport goods and to store goods on pallets. Palletized goods are maintained in a position above the flooring which can be very advantageous in areas where there is flooding or where the condition of the flooring is either rough or of concern. Standard pallets are particularly useful in materials handling because forklift equipment can maneuver the pallets by inserting their forklift tines into channels provided by the pallet. Typically, pallets are constructed of wood. In the past, wooden pallets have provided advantages of economy, simplicity and durability, principally because of the lack of other suitable materials. However, wooden pallets are extremely heavy and require costly hand labor in their fabrication.
In the past decades, disposable pallets have been proposed and, with the growth of the plastics industry, a wide variety of plastics have been investigated to determine their suitability for use in producing pallets. Plastic pallets can easily be molded and are stronger and lighter in weight than wooden pallets. They can also now be made with recyclable materials.
A recent plastic pallet that is light in weight, durable, capable of supporting heavy loads and is easy to manufacture and have a minimum number of parts that are preferably interchangeable are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,395 for a PLASTIC PALLET WITH DECK ASSEMBLY and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,976 for a PLASTIC PALLET. The pallets and connectors disclosed in these patents have proven to be highly successful. Improvements thereon are shown and disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 961,396, filed Oct. 15, 1992 for A PLASTIC PALLET WITH DECK ASSEMBLY and U.S. Ser. No. 29/007,372, filed Apr. 21, 1993 (Attorney File No. 432D026) for A PLASTIC PALLET WITH DECK ASSEMBLY.
Prior attempts at composite pallets, meaning composed of both wood and plastic, have been costly and heavy. Accordingly, there has been a need for pallets of wood that have the light weight, versatility and ease of construction of plastic pallets.